"..."

I made eye contact with the opposing person and softly muttered.

"...In the future, I think I'll remember this every time I record."

"Haha!"

Chungryeo waved his hand.

"You don't have to worry. Actually, I just made it up. It's just a variation of urban legends about ghosts in recording studios.."

"...Um, is that so."

"But did you know that the recording studio urban legends are true?"

"...!"

Chungryeo laughed a few times after telling his bullshit and disappeared to wash up.

"...Haa."

It passed.

I tried not to look exhausted.

'That guy knows for sure.'

This guy, who either knows about the status window or the regression, used the urban legend as a smoke screen.

'How does he know?'

It surely wasn't certain. It could be that he didn't directly try to find out about my situation... but if that was the case, did it mean that he deduced it by only looking at the circumstances with the background knowledge?

...No, that was also ambiguous.

'There are too many uncertainties.'

I wiped the cold sweat from my forehead pretending to tidy up my hair. And decided on my following action.

Soon after, Chungryeo returned.

"It was a good thing I brought a rechargeable electric pot. You can mix it with cold water and use it."

"Ah, thank you very much."

I received a cylindrical device from Chungryeo. It was an electric kettle instead of a thermos.

'No wonder the americano was boiling hot.'

Admiring the crew who made only cold water come out while taking care of useless details, I did my thing.

'Status window.'

First, let's check the status window of that guy.

Judging from the pattern so far, the special abilities and status abnormalities usually hinted at the person's character.

'There's nothing to lose by checking.'

But the moment the window pop-up appeared, an unexpected clue came up.

"...!"

I immediately headed to the bathroom to hide my agitation. Then I stiffly went inside and closed the door.

"..."

There were no cameras in the bathroom.

"Sigh..."

However, the mic was still on. I checked the status window again, keeping my mouth shut to avoid saying any nonsense.

I didn't read it wrong.

To check Chungryeo's status window, I had to accept the 'Truth' reward that I had put on hold.

'Is it just urging me?'

Or maybe it was asking that because Chungryeo really was connected to this situation.

'It seems like a level-restricted content in a game.'

It was plausible either way, so it was hard for me to be sure.

'...Restarting the status abnormality with this vague clue?'

It was insane which made me even more uneasy.

'If it only wanted to urge me then it would've used more extreme measures.'

What if the status window was dangling a carrot in front of me because there really was a clue?

Let's make a decision.

'I can't keep living with the status abnormality on all the time anyway.'

Strictly speaking, my assumption that the status abnormality would disappear if I cleared it like this was nothing more than a happy circuit.

And it was 300 days no matter how much I delayed it. After that, I would still have to receive the reward.

'I'd rather take what I can get now.'

I didn't know when Chungryeo would show up again if this timing passed. I'd rather finish while we're looking into each other.

'...Pop-up.'

I slowly raised my hand and touched the 'Click!'

And just like last time, my vision went dark.

* * *

The rooftop of a building where a cold wind was blowing.

"..."

A man was smoking a cigarette. The smoke was scattered away by the chilly winter wind. The air was cold enough to make you cough, but the man didn't bat an eye.

He just looked down with sharp eyes. The night view was dazzling. There was an advertisement coming out from the billboards across the street.

It was from a brand he once shot.

With his group, to be exact.

'Since when did it start...?'

The man looked at the colourful video and suddenly fell into troubling thoughts.

Overseas expansion at the wrong time? A concept that doesn't fit the current trend? Members who lost their original resolution? Investors in the agency who only put in unnecessary fads?

"..."

And he came to a conclusion.

'It went wrong from the start.'

The composition of members was wrong from the beginning. There were too many members who were useless.

No, they weren't useless. They were in the way.

'It wouldn't be like this if I had planned it.'

He then admitted it. He lived his own life wrong.

'Emotions, tears. I only used them as a selling point.'

People want to sit when they are standing and lie down when they are sitting. Personal circumstances and stories about unavoidable pitiful situations... They were all just an excuse to sell yourself with your words.

"..."

He felt relieved after admitting it. The man smiled and threw the remaining cigarette butts into the sky.

And just like that, he fell down the railing.

Rattle.

With a noise that came from kicking the railing, the man fell down from the high-rise building into the road.

But when he came to his senses.

"...!!"

He woke up in the small room of his home.

"...What."

The old cell phone screen he picked up showed the boy's face

I was myself before becoming Chungryeo.

* * *

"Gasp!"

I took a breath and came to my senses. And immediately turned on the water.

Squeak.

Cold water poured out with a creaking sound. I immediately splashed water on my face.

"..."

This was the same as 'Park Moondae's' case. The composition of looking into the other person's past from a third person's point of view.

And... the other person this time was definitely Chungryeo.

'Ah shit.'

This bastard had also returned to the past.

Even if I roughly put it together, it seems that he succeeded after losing his career and came back to the past.

I laughed at the thought that this was the perfect fit for a web novel's plot, but more than that I was angry.

'This was the reason why the status window was blocked...?!'

Even if I checked the status window, the 'truth' compensation meant nothing.

No, more than that, why on earth was this a reward?

The past of 'Park Moondae' was directly related to my circumstances, so I didn't mind that it popped up.

However, no matter what Chungryeo did, what did it have to do with me to give it as a 'reward'?

'It's a hint related to the status abnormality...!'

The rising anger only subsided after dipping my head in cold water for quite some time. And I managed to draw a reasonable conclusion.

'...This means I can get a hint.'

If you can get information from this strange supernatural phenomenon, you will definitely understand how things are going.

In that sense, this status window seems to give you hints step by step as if we're playing a game that is in progress.

Ding!

...Seeing it doing this shit again, it seems like they just want me to suffer.

'But it's a little better this time.'

I think the Rookie of the Year award can be fulfilled unless something unusual happens.

I was concerned about the vague 'authoritative' criteria of the awards but the candidates... well, there are three of them. In terms of objective results, there is nothing to push us back.

It was difficult to gain popularity these days, so no matter which rookie made their debut in the second half of the year, it was impossible for them to surpass 's TeStar.

'It's harder to get first place on public TV.'

I calmed myself down and wiped the water off my face.

Then I walked out of the bathroom with the pot I received from Cheongryeo in my hand.

"I used it well. Thank you very much."

"No need to thank me. I'm just glad you used it well."

I returned the pot and sat across from Chungryeo. Then I took a snack out of my backpack.

"We have to stay up all night, so if you don't mind, why don't we eat something sweet?"

"Ah, thank you."

Although Chungryeo took it right away, he only pretended to open it but didn't eat it.

'I don't know if he's just taking care of himself or being vigilant.'

I pretended to rummage through my backpack while checking Chungryeo's status window again.

This time it came out right.

'This is crazy.'

Which kind of stats are this damn high?

I was going to check the attributes first but my eyes went there automatically. I almost bit my tongue.

'But the potential isn't limitless.'

The vague expectation that all of the stats would be limited to EX was wrong.

Anyway, let's calm down and see what I was originally trying to verify.

First, let's start with the attributes.

'He has a talent of an entrepreneur.'

If the 'truth' recollection I saw earlier was true, he might have acquired this ability from reminiscing about his life before his death.

However, the only thing that bothered me was that there was only one attribute.

'Isn't there something like an attribute draw?'

...The difference between us was quite clear.

Anyway, let's move on to the next one. This time it was the status abnormality.

...I got goosebumps.

Then I remembered the recent conversation.

'The idol urban legend story earlier... was it your story?'

I wonder if the status window will go back to when it first appeared if it failed to remove the '~or else you'll die' type of status abnormality.

It was an eerie guess.

However, his status abnormality was 'Inactive'. That alone was a great harvest since it meant that there was a way to disable it.

'I'm done organizing my thoughts for now.'

I will investigate further next time.

I put down my luggage and looked at Chungryeo again.

"Did you finish looking for the snacks?"

"Yes. There's nothing much."

"Haha."

You're still uncertain, aren't you?

As I thought, that bastard didn't know about me. He was just guessing.

This meant that I had an upper hand in information power, so this time it was my turn to ask.

Have a taste of this.

"Umm... sunbae-nim, can I ask for some advice?"

"Of course. I'm not sure if I can be of any help but... Is there something you're worried about?"

"Yes. It's nothing much... By any chance, how did you start out with the other sunbae-nims in the same group?"

"...Umm, since the beginning?"

I brought my cold coffee and took a slow sip on purpose. And then I continued slowly.

"Since our team's formation process was unique... I think there's a strong consensus there. So I wondered what is it like for other groups."

"...Is that so?"

"Yes. Through what process did VTIC sunbae-nim debut together?"

"..."

Obviously in the 'truth' recollection, this guy picked 'members' as the fundamental cause of VTIC's failure.

'Obviously, this bastard switched members in the making of the group.'

I didn't know what kind of efforts a trainee made but the guess was almost certain.

Currently, VTIC was going strong and was living well as a top tier without any major controversies.

"Well, that's an interesting question."

Chungryeo smiled and picked up the snack I had given him.

The nuts disappeared along with the chewing sound. I waited patiently for an answer with a serious face.

Come one, get restless.